Matt Pottinger on Competing with China and What's Next in Iran

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump continues to negotiate with Tehran, but lurking behind the war in the Middle East is America's larger strategic contest with the Chinese Communist Party. How is Beijing reading events in Iran? And why is President Trump sounding softer on China than he did in his first term? On this episode of Potomac Watch, Kate Odell talks with former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger about Trump's worldview, Taiwan and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:28.3	among real estate professionals from the opinion pages of the wall street journal this is potomac watch
0:40.8	welcome to potomac, the weekday podcast from the Wall Street Journal editorial page. I'm Kate O'Dell, and I'm your host today. A big
0:46.4	question of the week has been President Trump in Iran. Is he willing to finish the job? The mullahs
0:52.0	are dug in and not moving off their demands. The open files
0:55.6	include nuclear enrichment, Tehran's existing stockpile, the ballistic missile program,
1:01.0	the Strait of Hormuz, terrorist proxies, all over the region. We're going to talk a little bit about
1:06.4	Iran today and give you an update there, but we're also going to take an interlude from the hurly-burly
1:11.2	of the daily headlines and talk about a larger issue that lurks behind the war in Iran and lurks
1:16.8	behind many of America's actions in the world. And that is the U.S. competition with China and the
1:22.3	Chinese Communist Party. We have a great guest today to help us think about Iran, China, and the volatile world we live in.
1:28.8	That's our contributor, Matt Podinger.
1:31.3	Matt served as Deputy National Security Advisor during the first Trump administration.
1:35.9	He also served as a U.S. Marine and deployed as an intelligence officer to both Afghanistan and Iraq.
1:43.1	As impressive as that is, Matt's most prestigious
1:45.6	credential, of course, is that he is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal.
1:50.8	Matt, thanks so much for joining us today. Kate, it's great to be with you. Yes. Okay, so let's start
	...

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